Smile with Joy!

Smile with Joy!

1 Thessalonians

"Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus!"

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Original cupcakes by heather & lori

Cupcakes are currently all the rage in North America and my personal favourite when i was in Canada - The Cupcake Wars show!!! hahaha

I was elated when i saw this small cupcake booth in the Pacific Centre shopping mall in Vancouver..



The cupcakes looked absolutely awesome, but we kinda just stared, contemplated on whether we should buy it... and my mum was like let's go.. that was the biggest regret of my life!!! *smacks self*

The booth was gone the next time we went to the mall and we didn't see their main shop while we were around Vancouver. but i am soooo going there the next time i drop by Vancouver :)

Anyone interested in finding their shop locations or about what they do, you may visit their website! Their wedding cakes look awesome too :) *sparkly eyes* ... i wish they had a franchise in Singapore haha

http://www.cupcakesonline.com/cupcakes.php

Friday, May 27, 2011

Jade Dynasty Restaurant, Vancouver

Craving for some Chinese food in Vancouver, we headed down to Chinatown! We bought the tickets for the 2-day Vancouver Trolley Bus, so we hopped on at our hotel and hopped off at Chinatown, how convenient!


Those interested in shopping for Chinese ethnic clothing can head down to the OCHI boutique along East Pender Street. They have a wide variety of Chinese ethnic clothing designed by a local designer. My mum bought a few tops that could be paired with jeans and also a pair of black pants with Chinese inspired buttons down the side. My sis bought a cute pink Chinese embroidered handbag and i bought a light purple convertible tube/halter/spaghetti top with tastefully embroidered Chinese flower patterns.

We asked the friendly shopkeeper where the best dim sum place is in Chinatown, and she directed us to the Jade Dynasty Restaurant just a few doors down...

The restaurant is small with not many tables, but it was not very crowded so we managed to get a table. We were asked to choose our type of tea, and we ordered a pot of chrysanthemum tea, which was absolutely refreshing - with bits of chrysanthemum petals floating in our cups of tea. We ordered a few dishes and the food came pretty quickly.

Prawn Rice Noodle Roll (also known as Chee Cheong Fun)


Shrimp Dumplings (also known as Har Gao)


Pork Dumplings (also known as Siew Mai)


Steamed Pork Dumplings with Soup (also known as Xiao Long Bao)


Egg Custard Tarts (also known as Dan Tart)


Honestly, just my personal opinion, but i found the food to be quite lacking in quality and flavour. However, if you are really hungry and stuck in Chinatown, you probably could go here because of the affordable pricing. Otherwise, I would recommend another dim sum restaurant in Vancouver (the bestest eva!), which would be coming up near the end of my food trail in Canada.

Jade Dynasty Restaurant - Chinese cuisine in Vancouver, Dim Sum in Vancouver
137 East Pender Street
Vancouver, BC V6A 1T6, Canada

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Ricky's Diner, Vancouver

And the food trail continues!!

This place is located in the underground area next to the Fairmont Waterfront. There's also a Tim Horton's and a food court there, for those looking for cheap places to eat around the Vancouver waterfront.

Tucked in a corner is Ricky's Diner!!


They sell mainly western food - namely sandwiches, burgers, omelettes...
We custom made our own omelette!


Their special feature is Eggs Benedict in Hollandaise sauce :)


Just a side random snapshot, i love the condiments that Canada provides hee hee


Again, rather big portions for small eaters!

Ricky's Diner - Diner in Vancouver / Western food in Vancouver
Waterfront Unit 23
200 Burrard Street
Vancouver, BC
V6C 3L6

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Kamei Royale Restaurant, Vancouver

My all time favourite restaurant in Vancouver! it's always the first and last place that I dine at whenever i'm in Vancouver haha

So naturally this is the first place that we stepped into for our first meal after a long plane ride, and before we could check-in at our hotel :)

The staff here are always friendly, attentive and ever-ready to help! And of course, the food is first-rate, excellent and scrumptious! :P

The portions might be a little large for small eaters (like myself) though, so you may try to share the dishes if you like :)

My sis ordered the Chicken Karaage (Japanese fried chicken) and Ebi Tempura (Prawn tempura).. it's like the twice the portion of the servings in Singapore!


I shared with my mum the Lunch Bento Set - Mixed Sushi and Sashimi. Everything was very fresh and appetizing


We ordered another 6pc Spicy Salmon Sushi Roll to share. I love salmon, but i personally found this spicy sauce a bit weird for me ...


There would be more Kamei Royale food photos coming up as I can never stay away from this place hahaha

Kamei Royale Restaurant - Japanese Cuisine in Vancouver / Sushi in Vancouver
1030 W Georgia Street, #211
Vancouver, BC V6E2Y3
(Opposite the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, on the 2nd floor above Tiffany & Co.)

Monday, May 16, 2011

Back from Vacation!

it was a good trip to Canada! i think i shall start a mini food blog trail from my trip haha. Most of the photos from my vacation were food, food and more food! YUMZ stay tuned! :)

Well, for starters, i had an 8 hour transit in Japan Narita Aiport. so i could take 2 meals there and went to sleep/shower in the Day Rooms (with shampoo/soap/lotion/toothbrush/toothpaste/comb etc etc provided! don't you just love Japan!)

I now know the transit area in the Narita Airport like the back of my hand hehehe. it's a great place for shopping too! i even bought some onigiri's and Tokyo Ginza baumkuchen for my next flight to Vancouver :)

I felt a little queasy after my first flight, so we went for some soupy stuff! I can't remember the name of the shop, but its a small cafe like restaurant two shops to the right of McDonald's and beside the origami shop.

I had the sweet beef udon ..


and my sis had the prawn tempura udon.

it was affordable and really good. soothed our tummies :)

then we went to the Day Rooms to sleep for 3 hours and had a quick shower too. you know how flights make your hair all greasy and you get off the plane looking terrible haha. It's located before McDonald's and the noodle cafe/restaurant above. It was clean, the beds were comfortable and the amenities provided were excellent :)

before our flight, we had dinner at the small cafe near Gates 56-58. it was tucked away in a corner but it was a good find! the Omu Rice was delicious and tasty yum yum!

this place was cheaper and they had a wider range of stuff to choose from. we came back here again when we transited home a few weeks later :)

Awesome food in Canada coming soon! ^_^